REGILDING THE CRESCENT
difficult to fancy a modern English daily, hard
pressed for space, giving its hospitality to such
a tirade a propos the readiness of some among its
contemporaries to indulge in malicious comments.
*e Son of Adam ! You are good, agreeable,
unique and witty! You are the force and the
lord of creation ! You are laborious and you are
full of energy! You always seek after the
truth ! You are not easily disheartened ! . . .
To increase your knowledge and possess yourself
of the truths of science, you dive to the bottom
of the infinite sea, you climb to the tops of peaks
almost beyond your reach, you even search the
infinities of the atmosphere! You cling to any-
thing that can bring you nearer to the truth!
The frozen steppes, the burning deserts, the
boundless seas, the mountains which reach to
heaven are no obstacles to your search. Your
will embraces the universe. . . . There is no
denying you such virtues and talents. There is
no doubting that you are the most perfect work
of the creation. But there are two sides to per-
fection. Although your capacity for good is
infinite, you are equally without limits to your
power for evil. . . . One moment you astonish
the world by your wisdom, the next you show
that you have as little equilibrium as a child!"
If Lamartine did not write this, he ought to
have!
In moments of crisis, the native Press assumes
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